Solitude and Good Company
by Lyra Ngalia
Summary: Unable to protect their friend while they search for the Philosopher’s Stone, the Elric brothers do the only thing they can to reassure Winry that they haven’t forgotten her. Manga-verse, implied to take place after Chapter 47.


Author's Note: Written for the Fire and Ice 2008 competition over at Livejournal, for the prompt "long hot summer nights."

**Solitude and Good Company**

_Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. _-- Lord Byron

Dear Winry,

I hope this letter gets to you. We're in the middle of nowhere, and I'm going to leave this with the coach driver for him to mail. If he doesn't, well, then you won't read this and I'm wasting my time.

Anyway, I hope you're doing well in Rush Valley. I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly where Al and I are, but if you want to write to us, you can send letters to the State Alchemists Office. We'll make sure to check there every time we're back in Central.

I wanted to write you to let you know that we're alright, that you don't have to worry about us. Al wants me to let you know he hopes you're learning a lot from Garfiel. It's been so hot lately that he's had to stay at least arm's length away from the other passengers. Some stupid loud mouthed biddy yelled at Al when she accidentally brushed up against him. He can't help being hot to the touch! And you'd think he'd branded her or something the way she was carrying on.

Where was I? Right, Al sends you his best wishes and asked you to let Paninya know he's thinking of her. What the hell. Sorry for never writing before, but we didn't want you to worry. Maybe that was selfish of us, and I'm sorry if it ended up worrying you anyway. We'll try to write as often as we can. We can't tell you very much, but know that we're still on our mission, and I'm not going to stop until we get Al's body back.

Hope you're well,

Ed

* * *

Dear Ed and Al,

Thanks for your letter. I'm glad to hear that you two are alright. It's been unseasonably hot in Rush Valley, so I can imagine how bad things might be for the two of you. Things are going well here; Master Garfiel and I are experimenting with new cooling systems for automail. Most of the new designs won't work for you, Ed, since you insist on transmuting my automail, but these new heat sinks and coatings might help keep the temperature down a little.

I don't know when you two will get this letter, but I hope it's soon. Business is keeping me busy and my customers and friends are good company, but sometimes I miss seeing friends I grew up with. Yesterday, James (one of our customers) and Master Garfiel were bringing back a load of parts from the train station when the mule got surprised by the neighbor's cat running through its legs and upset the cart, spilling parts everywhere. It took us some time to clean up, but I couldn't help laughing, remembering the time when we were little and Mister Foster was taking us down to the river with Benji pulling the cart. I still think I have the scar from when Benji reared at a bird and we ended up flying out and down the road.

No one else understood why I thought it was so funny, but I know you two would if you were here. I hope your search is going well. Please be careful, and Al, please take care of your brother. Make sure he cleans his automail and keeps it in one functional piece.

Who am I kidding, you two are probably going to stumble back into town with it in pieces. Still, please be careful.

Winry

* * *

Dear Ed and Al,

It's been a week since my last letter. I know there's no way you could have gotten the one before, but I thought I would still write you regularly to let you know I'm thinking of you. The new cooling systems are working well. Mister Dominic and Paninya let us attach a couple of prototypes to Paninya's limbs so we could see how well they worked on an active model. Sorry to tell you that I can't keep your automail from scorching you in the sun, Ed, but I'm a mechanic, not a miracle worker. Still, the new designs are looking promising. I should be able to lower your automail's daytime temperature by a few degrees. You might end up needing both a summer and winter model, at least with the covers, if you want to be comfortable.

Oops, I hope you're still reading. Al, Paninya asked me to give you her best wishes, and to tell you to come back soon and visit. She and our neighbor, Madame Anita, are trying to raise a litter of kittens she found on the roof of the Hotel Augustine. No one's quite sure how the cats got there, but the important thing is they (and the mama) are all down safe and sound, and have three regular meals every day. You'd like them; there's one that's blue-grey that we've been calling Mouse, who tries to follow me back home every time I go visit them. Master Garfiel thinks we should keep her in the shop when she gets old enough to leave her mother, but I think she's just going get into all the automail and hurt herself. Cats aren't as well behaved as dogs. Den always knew better than to sniff customers waiting for a fitting or a tune-up.

I guess I just wanted to let you know that things are well here, normal and everything. I'm sure Ed will make fun of me, but I just wanted to remind you of what a normal life is like, with people and pets and things like that. It might not be as exciting as traveling and researching as a State Alchemist, but it's got its appeal too.

Anyway, I should go. Summer nights can be so long and hot that I barely have the energy to work so I thought I'd write you instead, but I think I'm getting too tired. I'll probably wake up and realize this letter makes no sense at all and decide not to send it. I guess you'll find out one way or another.

The stars are very bright here tonight. I hope that wherever you are, they are shining just as bright.

Winry

PS – It makes sense. I'm sending it in the morning mail.

* * *

Dear Winry,

Thank you for writing us. We're in Central for a day (less if Brother has his way) and just finished reading your letters. Right now we're sitting at the train station, well I am. Brother is having a very embarrassing argument with the lady behind the ticket counter, but I'll go rescue her from him once I'm done. Last time I tried to stop Ed while he was good and mad, he left a foot shaped dent in my armour. Maybe this time I should let the police calm him down first.

Anyways, I'll try to make this quick so I can keep Brother out of jail and mail this before our train arrives. Our last trip wasn't terribly productive, but we did manage to find something interesting in a village we passed through. Everyone thought the village was haunted because huge vines, covering entire houses, were sprouting up overnight. Brother wasn't having any of it, and I was pretty skeptical too. If there really _was_ a ghost, why was it playing gardener?

But we investigated (Brother figured it would get Colonel Mustang off his back if he did actual work once in a while), and it turned out to be a little boy who had gotten a hold of some random plant acceleration alchemic array. I haven't heard of any instances of this kind of thing happening with kids (especially ones who are too young to know what they're doing), so it will make an interesting report for the State Alchemists. At least, it would be if Brother ever managed to write it up.

Anyways, Brother and I will try to visit as soon as we can. We're always glad to get letters from you, and I hope you won't think we're ignoring you if we can't get back to Central very regularly. Please pet the kittens for me.

Love,

Al

* * *

Dear Winry,

Al's probably told you all about our last trip—I think I saw him writing in the train station—but I thought I'd write you too. Looks like our stay in Central has been delayed a day or two. The bastard found out we were in town—probably because Al thought he saw Bradley—and had the station refuse to sell us tickets out of here. Damn it. I knew we should've tried hiring horses. So now I've got to find us a place to stay for a couple nights while Colonel Shithead makes up something for us to do. Probably going to try to foist his paperwork off on me.

It's good to hear that you're doing well in Rush Valley. I've been thinking about what you said—about upgrading my automail—and I think you're right. Let me know when I'm due for maintenance and I'll come to Rush Valley for a tune-up and upgrade. It'll be easier for Al and me to come to you than to make you come to Central and make your other customers wait.

Thanks again for your letters, Winry. It's nice to remember that someone is waiting for us to come back and we're happy that your apprenticeship is working out. Can you do me a favor though? Stop telling Al about the cats. I already caught him trying to sneak one on the train on the way back from Vine Town—the cat tried to bite my face when I was sleeping.

I'll write again from the road once I kill the bastard. Please take care and let me know if you need anything from us,

Edward Elric

* * *

Dear Al,

I hope you managed to rescue the poor ticket woman from Edward before she had to call the police. Your letter made me laugh so hard that Master Garfiel thought the fumes from the coating job he was doing were getting to me. It's too bad about your trip though; I know how important finding more useful information is, but I'm glad you managed to do something good for that village. It's more reassuring to hear that you two are helping people rather than that you've gotten all busted up again.

The cats are doing well. Madame Anita's decided she's keeping the grey and white spotted one she calls Freckles and Paninya is going to keep Mouse. They still have to find homes for the others, but I don't think that will be very hard. Paninya is a very good salesperson. She had Master Garfiel convinced that Mouse would be perfect here in the shop, but then I pointed out that we couldn't have a baby kitten getting sick from all the fumes and things, not to mention the havoc it would cause in the workshop to have a cat rubbing up on things like the docks and connections.

Still, the kittens are making me miss Den. I made a new alarm clock out of some spare parts and an old broken clock Paninya found. It's not as annoying and noisy as the normal ones but it's nowhere near as nice as waking up to Den licking my hand. If business slows down sometime this month, I may have to go home to Resembool and see Granny and Den.

Something odd has been happening lately Al, and I think you're really the only person I can talk to about it. The last couple of days, when I open up the shop, I've found a milk bottle full of daisies at the door every morning. Master Garfiel says they have to be for me, but I can't imagine who they would be from. When I ask him, he just talks about how James, the one who has being bringing our orders from the train depot, has been hanging around an awful lot lately. James is a really nice guy, but… I don't think he should be giving me flowers, you know? I'm not even sure it _is_ him, since Master Garfiel can be a little strange sometimes. Still, it's very weird, and I wish it would stop. Any ideas?

You can NOT tell Ed about this, Al. Promise me.

Other than that, life is good. I hope you two stay safe. Please take care of your brother, you know he'll end up in trouble if you don't.

Winry

* * *

Dear Ed,

Your letter came a day after Al's, so I suppose most of what he gets isn't relevant anymore. Still, I hope this gets to you before you two have to leave Central.

The new cooling systems are working out well, and a couple of my regular customers have already switched over. Things look good so far, but I'm sure if there's a way to break it, you'll be the first to tell me. As for your tune-up, it's been almost a month since you had the new pieces installed. Have you had any trouble with them? Spasms, discomfort at the docking ports, imbalance, that sort of thing? If you have, you should come to Rush Valley as soon as your schedule lets you. If not, you can go for another two months or so before coming back for maintenance.

Is something wrong? It's not like you to actively ask for a tune-up.

Well, you'd probably not tell me even if there is, but I hope you're alright, Ed. Let me know when to expect you here, and I'll have the improvements ready for you to try out.

Please take care,

Winry

* * *

Dear Winry,

Your letter got here just as we were about to leave Central. Brother managed to convince Colonel Mustang that the boy we met (the one doing plant alchemy) was legitimate alchemical research, so he agreed to let us continue our search after we wrote up a case file for the boy. Unfortunately, that still took a couple of days, most of it spent in the library. Still, it reminded me of when Brother and I were first studying for the State Alchemist exam, and we practically lived in the library. Feels like a long time ago.

This time, we are heading south. Not sure where we'll end up, but you can be sure we're staying far away from Dublith! Neither Brother nor I want to run into Teacher right now. I don't think he's quite recovered from last time, to be honest; whenever I mention Teacher, he gets this nervous twitch in his left shoulder. Teacher got him there really hard last time we saw her.

I shared the news of the cats and the possibility of you visiting Granny and Den with Ed, since he seemed upset that he didn't get a letter. Even after I told him that it was probably because his letter to you was sent later than mine and his will probably be waiting in Central when we get back, he's still grumpy. Don't worry, I didn't share anything else from your letter with him.

As for the flowers, I wish I could help you, Winry. On one hand, Master Garfiel might be right about it being this James person. On the other, he might just be teasing you. I don't know, maybe you should talk to James? I don't know what else to do about that. Maybe you can give the flowers away or hide them. Would that be awkward? I hope James is a nice person.

I'll write you again later, hopefully with some news about where we've been or what we've been doing. Until then, take care, Winry!

Love,

Al

* * *

Dear Winry,

I hope you're doing well. Since Al's letter got delivered to the State Alchemists Office as we were leaving, I suppose any other letters will have to wait until we come back again. I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly where we are, but I'm not quite sure myself. One of the books Al and I were studying when we were writing up our report for the bastard mentioned some odd events in the south, so we're hoping to head down that way to see if we find anything useful.

We're investigating as many of the nearby small towns as possible. Unfortunately, most of them don't have train stations, so we decided to stop off at one and go town by town on foot. Al is insisting I try to buy a horse in the morning, saying I'll get tired and slow him down if I don't. He might be right, but I don't like the idea. The people in this town have become overly accommodating ever since they saw my watch. They don't know what a State Alchemist can do, but they know enough to think we're made of money, so trying to get a horse or supplies is getting ridiculous.

Aside from the process of being robbed blind, things are well here. Al is acting really strange, and I'm worried about him. Whenever I ask him what's wrong, he just goes "nothing" like he always used to when he was upset and didn't want to get laughed at. I'm hoping it's nothing, but if it's not, maybe you can get it out of him,

Speaking of strangeness, I think my last letter may have come off a little odd. I hope it didn't worry you too much, but there were a lot of things on my mind and I was frustrated about being stuck in Central. I guess I just want to say that I'm sorry if it worried you, and I'm alright. Still, a tune up in a few months sounds like a good idea, and those new cooling systems you keep telling me about would be handy. It's still really hot out here, though since it's just me and Al, no one is yelling at him for getting too hot.

I hope everything is fine in Rush Valley,

Ed

* * *

Dear Winry,

The towns we have been passing through are an interesting collection. A couple of them are old mining towns, several are small farming communities, and there's even one that used to be some tourist trap with hot springs. Nothing to help us in any of them, although I think Al had a good time in one of the farm towns, said it reminded him of home.

We're passing through one of the old mining towns right now, and it reminds me of one Al and I visited a couple of years ago. I can't remember the name right off, but I think it was somewhere in the east. Old mining towns are kind of pathetic, in a way. They've got all these empty mine shafts everywhere and the entire place just seems…lost. Like they don't know what to do anymore. Sometimes it's really bad, but this place is nice. They've got other businesses, and even some summer festival thing. This town isn't just shriveling up and dying; I like it.

At Al's insistence, we spent last night at their summer festival, wandering around the booths. Summer nights here in the south are _hot_ and incredibly humid. I almost envied Al; I was dripping with sweat. Still, he had a good time with everything, and I got to have fair food—why isn't every food in the world served fried on a stick?

Al's been almost normal lately. I guess he got over whatever was bothering him. I worry about him when he gets like that, Winry. When I can tell something is bothering my brother but he won't tell me about it. I suppose he won't tell me about it now either, even though it looks like he's gotten over it.

Anyway, Al had a good time, indulging in a bit of normal life as you called it. We found a booth at the fair that sold interesting little crafts and found something Al thought you would like. Not earrings again, since you keep doing that stupid thing of punching new holes in your head, but I hope you can find some use for this scarf thing. Call it an early birthday present.

We'll see you in a couple of months at the latest. Please be careful,

Ed

* * *

Dear Ed and Al,

Okay, something is up with the two of you. What is going on that you feel the sudden need to tell me to be careful in every letter? I expect an answer in your next letter.

Thank you for the scarf; it was a very thoughtful gift. Al, I'm glad you had a good time at the summer festival, at least until Ed ate too much and you had to haul him home. (Don't give me that look, Ed) Anyway, I thought you'd like to know that the kittens are doing very well, they're growing up quickly. Madame Anita has found homes for most of them, though a second one might go home with Paninya as well. It seems one of Mouse's brothers has gotten very attached to her, and anytime Paninya tries to move Mouse, the other kitten won't stop yowling until Mouse is back within sight.

Now Paninya is hoping I can help her name the new kitten; I told her I would consult you, Al. The kitten isn't grey like Mouse, but is sort of black-brown-grey splotchy on white. Master Garfiel tells me it's called "calico."

Very little other news on this end. Rush Valley is still hot. There's still a little trouble with the deliveries, but nothing worrisome. Paninya thinks we've done all we can for the new cooling systems, so I'm going to start on something new. Possibly some metallurgy experiments. Ed, if there's any specific aspects of your automail you want changed, now's the time to let me know.

Until then, I have your next tune-up lined up for next month, Ed. You better come back in one piece. Please be careful,

Winry

* * *

Dear Al,

It's been a few weeks since you two started off on your trip through the south, so I'm not sure if I should even start this letter. The postmaster will probably bring me a letter tomorrow from both of you saying you had just stopped in Central and left, so you won't get this for a long time. Still, it's late and I can't sleep, so I thought I would write anyways. Sometimes it's good just to write to both of you, just to remind myself that you'll get those letters eventually. I hope it reminds you too, that you have people waiting for both of you to come back safely.

I know you are keeping Ed out of trouble, even if it is a lot of work. I'm glad you are still together. I think I worry less knowing you're together out there.

Al, I wish you will tell me what's going on. I know something is wrong, given how often you and Ed are writing to me, and how all your letters ask me to be careful. But I can't be careful unless I know what to be careful _about_. Think about it, will you?

By the way, thank you again for the scarf. It's very nice. I know it was your idea to pick it out, and I have a sneaking suspicion I know why. You're sweet for being concerned, Al, but you shouldn't meddle.

As for James, I caught him leaving the flowers by the door a couple days ago. I told him they were very nice, but that he shouldn't be wasting them on me. He was very kind, very understanding, but I don't know if he understood what I was trying to say. I have too much going on right now to think about that sort of thing, and James wouldn't be my first choice, all in all. He still comes by and lingers to chat whenever he brings a delivery for us, but there haven't been any more milk bottles full of daisies.

Master Garfiel's a little disappointed, I think, but he knows better than to say anything. I hope your search is going well. Remember that I'm thinking of you both,

Winry

* * *

Dear Ed,

Thank you for the scarf; it was very thoughtful. I've been using it to keep my hair out of my face in the shop, and the colour reminds me of the way the grass looks in Resembool during springtime.

I've gained two new customers this week, a woman who lost her legs in a train accident and a young man who lost his arm when his doctor didn't keep his wounds from developing gangrene. (Doctors who don't do their job right make me so angry!) Unfortunately, I've also had to turn away some people who came for automail. One of them was a man who broke his back; there just wasn't enough nerve response left to do anything for him. Another was a mother who wanted her son, who was born with a shriveled arm, to get a replacement arm.

I always feel helpless when I have to send people away. They see how it helps other people, and it hurts to see how they lose hope when I have to tell them that I can't help. I try to tell them why it won't work and sometimes they listen, but sometimes other automail mechanics take advantage of those people. I hope it doesn't happen this time.

One last bit of news for you. I've been working on your automail upgrade. I think I can run coolant through the main limb and give you a modified top plate that will release heat better. The combination will keep you noticeably cooler in the sun, but your arm will have to be out of commission for at least a day for me to install the new plumbing. I know you probably don't want to be stuck here for very long, but Paninya has the new system and says it makes being outside during the summer much more bearable.

Take care,

Winry

* * *

Dear Winry,

This trip through the southern towns has taken longer than Al or I thought it would, but we're almost done. We have one, maybe two more towns to investigate, but none of the ones so far have given us any information about alchemy. If anyone did alchemy in this area, they were only passing through; very few alchemists seemed to have settled in the area—not that I blame them, this place is a wasteland.

Al and I have been thinking that once we wrap up our investigation here, we are going to bypass Central and head straight to Rush Valley. It's been almost a month, and I'm sure being a few weeks early for maintenance won't do any harm. It'll also keep Colonel Shithead from holding us hostage in Central again.

So, if the last two towns prove to be as boring as all the others we've visited, we'll see you soon, in a week or two.

Until then, take care, and we'll see you soon,

Ed


End file.
